----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Prescod" <>
> In the standard modern architecture, you would use something like VFP to
> talk to the relational database on the server side and generate an XML
> view of the data. (XML+HTTP or XML+SOAP, depending on your tastes) Then
> the client neither knows nor cares that the data is stored relationally.
> And you can hook up dozens of different kinds of clients. A simple HTML
> form one for the lynx users, a DHTML one for the IE 6 users, a VB one
> for those willing to install a server app, a Java one for the Linux
> clients, etc. It isn't browser OR VFP. It's using each at what it excels at.
This works only when the information exchanged and the behaviour
of the client is rather simple. As a corporate developer I have
not come across a client yet that I could have implemented
with a browser, not from a GUI capability point of view,
nor from a user interaction standpoint.
And often - this is a heretic opinion here - I would prefer
DCOM or CORBA over XML for client/middle tier interaction,
simply because XML/SOAP imposes a rather simple communication
model, unless one is willing to re-invent CORBA based on XML.
Karl
